A conventional combustible gas turbine engine includes a compressor, a combustor, including a plurality of combustor assemblies, and a turbine. The compressor compresses ambient air. The combustor assemblies comprise combustor devices that combine the compressed air with a fuel and ignite the mixture creating combustion products defining a working gas. The working gases are routed to the turbine inside a plurality of transition ducts. Within the turbine are a series of rows of stationary vanes and rotating blades. The rotating blades are coupled to a shaft and disc assembly. As the working gases expand through the turbine, the working gases cause the blades, and therefore the disc assembly, to rotate.
Each transition duct may comprise a generally tubular main body or conduit having an inlet section which is fitted over an outlet portion of a liner of a corresponding combustor device. The liner outlet portion may include radially contoured spring clips, see for example, FIG. 1D in U.S. Pat. No. 7,377,116, to accommodate relative motion between the liner outlet portion and the transition duct conduit inlet section, which may occur during gas turbine engine operation. Further, a support bracket may be coupled to a main casing of the gas turbine engine and the transition duct conduit inlet section so as to support the transition duct conduit inlet section, see for example, FIG. 5 in U.S. Pat. No. 7,197,803.